Browsing Archive: November, 2013

REVIEW: Black Nativity – Great Music, But This Langston Hughes’ Musical Is Thin On Substance

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Saturday, November 30, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 

Black Nativity
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Kasi Lemmons

Starring:  Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Tyrese Gibson, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Nas, and Jacob Latimore

Black Nativity should have been the perfect storm for movie magic.  It stars a heavy lineup of Oscar winning and nominated actors, including Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson and Angela Bassett.  Black Nativity is set during the holiday season, it revolves around Christianity and family, and is based on a La...


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REVIEW: At a Homefront With Meadows & Horse Trails, Ex-Narc Phil Broker & His Daughter Maddy Get Into a Feud With Meth Cook Gator

Posted by James Brown on Thursday, November 28, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Homefront





Directed By: Gary Fleder

Starring: Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth

Jason Statham movies are always hit-or-miss for me.  You certainly get good action sequences, but not much else.  He's an action star, not an acclaimed actor.  Recognizing this reality, I'm a little ambivalent about his latest thriller Homefront.  He offers plenty of great fight sequences and amusing trash talking, but there's no depth to his character whatsoever.  The sad thing is that Home...
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REVIEW: Frozen – For The First Time In Forever, A Disney Musical

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Thursday, November 28, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

Frozen
SoberFilmChick



Directed by: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee

Starring:  Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, and Santino Fontana

"That's no blizzard, that's my sister!"
- Anna (Kristen Bell)

Disney has given us the best animated musicals: The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and so much more.  However, in recent years, except for The Princess And The Frog, Disney’s animated musicals have been nonexistent.  Clever computer animation a la Toy Story...


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REVIEW: In Philomena, the Evil Nuns at Roscrea Abbey Ease Martin Sixsmith's Choice Between Russian History & Human Interest Stories

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Philomena





Directed By: Stephen Frears

Starring: Judi Dench and Steve Coogan

At the start of the Thanksgiving weekend, the last thing I thought I needed was a movie about some old lady trying to find her long-lost son.  Even with Dame Judi Dench, Philomena sounded like a made-for-television movie you'd find on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel in the wee hours of the night.  Nonetheless, I've now seen it, and I must admit that I was quite wrong.  Stephen Frears's Philomena packs a surprising punch...
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REVIEW: All the Dumplings in the World Can't Help Spike Lee Answer the Fundamental Question About Evergreen Oldboy Joe Doucett

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 27, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Oldboy





Directed By: Spike Lee

Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Imperioli

We're seeing an interesting trend this month at the box office.  Hollywood is in the mood to distribute English-language remakes of successful foreign films.  Last weekend, Ken Scott gave us an Americanized version of his Canadian comedy Starbuck with Delivery Man.  It's safe to say that this flick was horrendous.  Now, this Thanksgiving week, we have a much bolder remak...
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REVIEW: Guardian Angel David Wozniak and His 533 Children Fail to Make the Delivery Man Any Different From Starbuck

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 23, 2013, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
Delivery Man





Directed By: Ken Scott

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, and Cobie Smulders

Remakes are part of the film industry's DNA, but directors remaking their own original works is something entirely different.  That's what's happening with this weekend's comedy vehicle Delivery Man starring Vince Vaughn in which director Ken Scott is remaking his own Canadian comedy Starbuck.  It's a bold move to say the least.  The directors I can notably recall who decided to reimagine their own works ...
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REVIEW: Tick Tock, Tick Tock... Remember Who the Real Enemy Is in Catching Fire Despite All the Moves and Countermoves in the 75th Hunger Games

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 22, 2013, In : 0.00% Water 
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire





Directed By: Francis Lawrence

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland

May the odds be ever in Jennifer Lawrence's favor.  Her rise to stardom has been meteoric to say the least.  Just three short years ago in 2010, Hollywood's new golden girl was debuting in the indie Winter's Bone.  In 2011, she had a couple of suppo...
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REVIEW: The Best Man Holiday – A Shirtless Morris Chestnut And Friends Still Have It After “15” Years

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, November 17, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

The Best Man Holiday
SoberFilmChick




Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee

Starring: Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Regina Hall, Harold Perrineau, and Eddie Cibrian

2013 has been touted as the year of the African American film renaissance.  I am not quite ready to go that far, but it has been an absolute delight to see so many films with African American actors and actresses in lead roles meet critical and/or commercial success.  This year, films like Fruitvale S...


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REVIEW: Reading About Grave Digging & Playing the Accordion, Book Thief Liesel and Her Papa Hans Don't Make the Cut

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 16, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
The Book Thief





Directed By: Brian Percival

Starring: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Ben Schnetzer

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.  Independent filmmakers need to stop making World War II movies.  In the last year or so, we've had Lore, Emperor, and Simon and the Oaks.  Now, we have The Book Thief, another film that takes us back to the so-called greatest generation and the dark days marked by the Holocaust.  While I certainly respect the history, it's been done a...
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REVIEW: In Great Expectations, the Spider and a Mysterious Benefactor Are at Play with Pip

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 10, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Great Expectations





Directed By: Mike Newell

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes, and Robbie Coltrane

We all know there's been a growing trend in which movie stars are headlining cable TV shows.  While it's been a great way for us to get a weekly dose of actors with immense talents, it's also been a way for lesser known talents to make a splash into the industry and gain recognition.  For every Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) or Laura Linney (The Big C), t...
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REVIEW: Battling Against the FDA & AZT, AIDS-Stricken Bull Rider Ron Woodroof Launches the Dallas Buyers Club

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 9, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Dallas Buyers Club





Directed By: Jean-Marc Vailée

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Jared Leto

I recently discovered Breaking Bad.  For the last three weeks, I've been inhaling the saga of Walter White day and night.  I've been so addicted to the series that I actually completed it in its entirety as of two nights ago.  The circumstances under which this high school chemistry teacher stricken with lung cancer becomes a drug kingpin are unbelievable.  Walter "Heisenberg" White d...
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REVIEW: With the Imminent Convergence of the Nine Realms and the Aether Released by Jane, Thor and Malekith Rock the Dark World

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 8, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
Thor: The Dark World





Directed By: Alan Taylor

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, and Rene Russo

"Some believe that before the universe, there was nothing.  They're wrong.  There was darkness...and it has survived."
-Odin (Anthony Hopkins)

Of all the movies I've seen, The Avengers is the only movie wit...
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REVIEW: In How I Live Now, Daisy's Will Power Is Not Quite Enough, Especially When It Comes to Cow Cheese

Posted by James Brown on Wednesday, November 6, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
How I Live Now





Directed By: Kevin Macdonald

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Anna Chancellor, George MacKay, and Harley Bird

"If the world doesn't end, that's how I want to be, here with you.  And that's how I live now."
-Daisy (Saoirse Ronan)

Romances can kill movies sometimes.  The undying need to have repeatedly schmaltzy moments can sap away all the energy on screen.  I'm sure there are a million movies that fit this description.  The worst ones usually involve teens.  When this happens, ...
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REVIEW: In Kill Your Darlings, We Get No Inspired Vision of Lucien Carr's Guardian Angel Allen Ginsberg

Posted by James Brown on Monday, November 4, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Kill Your Darlings





Directed By: John Krokidas

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Elizabeth Olsen

"Another lover hits the universe; the circle is broken."
-Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan)

The Beat generation is getting a healthy dose of attention lately from independent filmmakers.  Earlier this year, Walter Salles tried to adapt Jack Kerouac's On the Road.  Despite a rather robust cast, things didn't work out terribly well for Sal...
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REVIEW: For Adèle, Emma's Blue is the Warmest, Sexiest Color

Posted by James Brown on Sunday, November 3, 2013, In : 0.03% Wine Coolers 
Blue is the Warmest Color





Directed By: Abdellatif Kechiche

Starring: Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux

Since founding STMR, I've been to more movies than I care to count.  Because of this, I've seen and interacted with all kinds of audiences.  Until last night, I thought I had seen it all.  When I attended a screening of Blue is the Warmest Color, however, I checked off one more thing I never could have anticipated, especially at an independent theater.  As you may know, Palme d'Or winner Bl...
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REVIEW: Ender’s Game – Wiggin Battles With Salamanders And Dragons Before Entering The Formic Wars

Posted by SoberFilmChick on Sunday, November 3, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 

Ender’s Game
SoberFilmChick



Directed by: Gavin Hood

Starring: Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld, and Ben Kingsley

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him." – A.E. Wiggin

Ender’s Game is the latest science fiction book series to be converted into a movie.  Written by Orson Scott Card, the book was first published in the 1980s.  For many years, filmmake...


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REVIEW: In Free Birds, the Pardoned Great Turkey Would Seriously Like Us to Eat Pizza for Thanksgiving

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 2, 2013, In : 0.12% Hard Liquor 
Free Birds





Directed By: Jimmy Hayward

Starring: Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, and Amy Poehler

It's the holiday movie season, which means we're going to get some great blockbusters, the next batch of awards contenders, and some horrible seasonally-themed family flicks.  This weekend, we're getting a little bit of everything.  We've possibly got the next big sci-fi series with Ender's Game.  We've got the steamy film that took top honors at Cannes earlier this year, Blue is the Warmest Color.  We'...
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REVIEW: For the Flatbush Four in Last Vegas, No One Calls Them Names, Like a Movie That Sucks, Except Us

Posted by James Brown on Saturday, November 2, 2013, In : 0.09% Cocktails 
Last Vegas





Directed By: Jon Turteltaub

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, and Morgan Freeman

Hollywood has a tendency to milk every drop out of whatever idea that’s become their latest cash cow.  Take The Hangover's wild bachelor party concept for instance.  Because of Hollywood's insistence on sacrificing originality for profitability, I have a love-hate relationship with the Wolf Pack.  I love the original Hangover movie and hate parts 2 and 3.  With this in mind, it sho...
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REVIEW: With Its Secret Formula for Happiness, About Time Takes Us on a Remarkably Fun Ride Through Tim's Extraordinary Ordinary Life

Posted by James Brown on Friday, November 1, 2013, In : 0.06% Beer or Wine 
About Time





Directed By: Richard Curtis

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, and Margot Robbie

A couple of months ago, I said that the age of romantic comedies was over.  As the fall season has demonstrated, I might have to retract my statement.  Since then, we've seen British rom com I Give It a Year.  We came back stateside last month with the charming indie Enough Said starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini.  Now, we're headed back across t...
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